Tuesday, 3 October 2017

After the show, the rain in Manchester









Anonymous said...

"until May fixes the Brexit deal"

I don't think the EU elite want a deal. Most important to them is at the worst making sure no one else follows, at the best a beaten UK crawling back (though that will never be stated, the negative vibes from Brussels would flip to sweetness and light pdq). We need to prepare for no deal as the most likely option and the default position.

As it is, each time the Commission reacts to another speech with "that's a positive approach, but trade talks can't start until .." the cheap labour lobby (Chambers of Commerce) and the Starmer/Miller/Guardian/Ken Clarke/BBC "ignore the referendum" axis are emboldened. So far the EU has a 100% record of forcing second votes on referenda it didn't like.

I see in the ConHome poll that Amber Rudd (p*** be upon her)and Hammond have a huge negative rating - our leader's is -1%.

I hate the damn things, but on exit (if it happens) we also need biometric ID cards asap.

andrew said...

Basically people born after the 70s really dont care about the 70s in the same way as those who experienced them.

The young (under 40s!!!) now experience housing they cannot afford and education they will be paying for the rest of their lives.

Someone tells them it does not have to be like this.
You know - that hopey changey thing.

That might be one reason why Lab are keeping well away from brexit, to the extent of not mentioning it.
Those that do (like the cons and the MSM) just sound like a load of backward looking dinosaurs - irrelevant to today's problems

and in the future, extinct.

At last it seems that people are slowly realising that leaving the EU (or not leaving) will solve exactly none of their problems.

The solutions lie in the political choices being made by their representatives
- no-one else.

It is becoming clear that the cons are offering nothing except old arguments amongst themselves.
And that is sooo boring.

JC may not be to your taste, but, the current health minister believes in homeopathy!

Sagitarius said...

then disappears to find the Whisky and revolver

Don't think she is capable of even that.

It's just a poor generation of politicians, many who have never worked in the real world and have no connection to peoples, real lives.

The person that highlights the basics - jobs, housing, health and education - will no doubt be hailed as a messiah in the party. While back on planet Earth the rest of us will be saying "about time it dawned on them"

andrew said...

On that hopey changey thing.

Just read Boris's speech and you never know... there is hope.
I only wish he was a bit less of a sleazy toad who likes making things up.

Electro-Kevin said...

Andrew - The leaving/not leaving the EU solves none of the problems because there is no will among the establishment to limit immigration and put British people first.

That's not petty nationalism but common sense and is for the good of all races resident in this country.

You cannot import people to compete for jobs and housing and expect those already living here to get richer.

Peter Hitchens is right on one thing. We should have elected a Brexit party, not short circuited the system by plebiscite.

I disagree with him that those who lead the Leave campaign have run away and want no responsibility* - it is the Remainers who have muscled in.

*Boris seems to be keen on the top job at this time.

I'll be honest. I'd be more relaxed if there had been no referendum or a Remain result. I'd be resigned to the fact that democracy is dead.

That is not to say that if there is a second referendum I wouldn't vote out again.

I had not realised how overwhelming the Remain establishment would be.

Anonymous said...

andrew - "At last it seems that people are slowly realising that leaving the EU (or not leaving) will solve exactly none of their problems. The solutions lie in the political choices being made by their representatives - no-one else."

With great respect, you are missing the point. There are many, many political choices which membership of the EU means we are not allowed to make. Border control being but one.

If we leave JC can nationalise the commanding heights of the economy if he wishes. Or give work permits to ten million Europeans. But that can be reversed. Similarly if we leave and the Tories win that creep Alan Duncan can privatise the army and the police - but that can be reversed.

Bill Quango MP said...

That's strange Kev.
I was the most mild of leavers. Not fussed either way.

Now I am rabidly leave. Driven to it by the attempts of certain sections who want to prevent it happening.

I do t even think leaving will be any good for us until I'm long gone.
Doesn't matter. We said we wanted out. We are getting out.
End of.

CityUnslicker said...

Anon - there will be a deal, even if it is no deal in form. The govt will never say it and the EU neither.

Andrew - well lets see shall we, I did not experience the 1970's but a re-run will be fun if the youth want first hand experience. I will aim to make shedloads of money playing the obvious things like interest rates, gilt rates, share prices of hated capitalists and forex. Then spend it on what will then be cheap property. Shame about the country mind.

Anonymous said...

CU - I know we're a bit above Greece's weight, but what kind of deal did Greece get? I seem to remember it involved the cashpoint machines being empty. Not much compromise there.

I hope you are right, I really do.

dearieme said...

I live in a state of rural innocence. Who is it doing these acid attacks?

Electro-Kevin said...

We're more than a bit above Greece's weight.

If London goes bust then so does the global economy.

Electro-Kevin said...

BQ - I'm with you on that. What is making me hold fast is the behaviour of Remainers.

Charlie said...

The current crop of politicians are, on the whole, unimaginative, unprincipled and, well, just a bit thick. I have absolutely no idea why most of parliament are even there, except to get paid. Say what you like about Momentum and Corbyn (and I say many bad things about them), but they know what they want. Luckily, most of the country don't want it.

The problem for the Tories now is that the to brass are so devoid of ideas that they have nothing to sell. Did anyone vote Tory at the last election for any other reason than to keep Corbyn out? I can't think of any major policy ideas that made me rush to the ballot box. They have a golden opportunity in Brexit to articulate a vision of the country for the next hundred years. Unfortunately, they are currently pissing this opportunity away while cabinet argues amongst itself about who should replace the current moron heading up the party.

I mean, Hammond calling the shots! I could cry.

andrew said...

I am not so sure that it is that the pols are particuarly thick/lazy/useless.

It is more that they are visible to us all.

If all the senior management of most (public) companies were to sustain the same level of transparency/scrutiny, I think you would see just as many overpaid useless vain venal people as you see in politics - in fact as it is better paid, probably more.

They are just like you and I (*).

Which brings into focus the question of why they (ft100 dirs) are paid about 160 times the average wage - and are they worth it.
The answer is that they are not (*).

(*) yes, I have come across a couple of truly exceptional people - but literally a handful.

Steven_L said...


I'm not sure how easy it was to trade derivatives in the 70's, but I'm sure McDonnell would have something to say about it. And didn't they have capital controls? Would you really risk removing money from the UK illegally and under threat of bankruptcy or even imprisonment?

I think HM Opposition get to chat to the Cabinet Secretary and HMT mardarins for a year before the election about their plans. I reckon your assets will be locked down damn quick you know. Didn't they say they were 'wargaming' you and your ilk as we speak?

Only a local government non-job like mine can begin to hedge you against the kind of socialist madness they are envisaging.

CityUnslicker said...

SL - They will do well to get mine and Timbo's bitcoins!

Andrew- poor effort of whataboutery there I am sad to say.

AndrewZ said...


For the last forty years we've been steadily outsourcing more and more of the functions of our national government to Brussels. As a result, there are huge gaps in knowledge and experience among both the political class and civil servants. Brexit is forcing them to try and get up to speed with all the things that they had previously been content to leave to the EU.

We've also had twenty years of Tony Blair-style media politics, in which controlling the next day's headlines takes priority over everything else. It worked spectacularly well for Blair, then the Conservatives and LibDems copied his tactics just as they were beginning to lose their effectiveness. When internet use became mainstream it became harder and harder to control the narrative because there were just too many news sources to control. People also got wise to how "spin" works and became more resistant to it. But it means that many of the "current crop" are accustomed to treating every issue as a problem in presentation, and some have never known any other way of doing things.

As politics retreated into the London media bubble, party leaders began to treat their local associations as a nuisance to be strictly controlled lest they disrupt the narrative or demand policies that might not play well with a hypothetical median voter. This cut them off from a valuable source of information about the real complexities of public opinion. It also discouraged people who weren't complete political obsessives from having any involvement with political parties. The result was increasing conformity and groupthink at the top, with the range of acceptable opinion increasingly limited to what would be well received by the metropolitan chattering class.

That's why they seem "unimaginative" and "a bit thick", even if being "unprincipled" is par for the course in politics.

L fairfax said...

@"The young (under 40s!!!) now experience housing they cannot afford"
Not just the young, I know someone who is 44 and priced out - which should give you a clue about which party started this problem

Amazingly lots of people think there are no supply side problems.

Anonymous said...

L Fairfax - there ARE no supply side problems in a world in which half a million people don't arrive in the UK annually. The problem is excess demand. Over the last ten years large numbers of new homes have been built - just take a drive across England, every town has its new builds encircling it, on good agricultural land. Even pretty depressed areas like the North East or West Wales.

dearieme - the acid attack epicentres are in East London, historically it's been an Asian thing that happened to wives or daughters who transgressed various cultural norms. Gang members there and in other parts of London, many non-Asian, have culturally appropriated it as a particularly effective way of damaging rivals or getting someone's motorbike.

Nick Drew said...

@ AndrewZ

I'll give you another dimension to the problem. The Civil Service used to be something of a 'Rolls-Royce' machine (it's own estimation of itself) - often a bit behind the times, but full of enough sharp, industrious people amongst the time-serving dross, plus loads of intellectual self-confidence. I first started dealing (as a businessman) with this model of CS back in the 80s, when it was still recognisably in this shape, although beginning a long slide downwards

[yes, we know the drawbacks of that: weak ministers would be ignored, and even strong ones had difficulty if they wanted something the CS didn't: but let that pass for now]

starting with Thatcher, politicians began to see the CS as part of the problem; started by-passing them for analysis & using consultants instead, reduced their numbers & prestige - to the point where now the CS lacks ability (and confidence in its ability) to do much more than manage the process of (a) being told by ministers a crazy new idea is going to be enacted (b) giving access for a consultant (frequently with a major vested interest) to come in, at great cost, to tell ministers whatever they want to hear (c) turning the consultant's report into regulations or legislation

the results of this nonsense are everywhere to be seen; whereas examples of good CS work - still to be found - are increasingly rare

this compounds the utter uselessness of the 'professional politicians' that occupy the ministries these days, as you say - and often results in complete capture of the entire Whitehall machinery by vested interests

L fairfax said...

I agree - but sadly most people voted for parties that want that.

Electro-Kevin said...

CU - What if nobody spends bitcoins because their likelihood of increasing in value is so great ?

And if their likelihood of increasing in value is so great then why do people spend them ?

CityUnslicker said...

EK - Shoes & Beer EK, wives need shoes and men need beer.

Electro-Kevin said...

As it happens Martin Lewis bought a beer with a bitcoin once.

The most expensive lager in the world, probably.